Ruff Times
by Scarlett-Whitecross20
Summary: When an accident puts Ryder out of comission, the pups must find a way to adjust. Though lingering thoughts and nagging doubts among the team unbalances things a little. And festering wounds won't heal without a little help.
1. Rocky Landing

PAW Patrol: Ruff times

Chapter one: Rocky Landing

"Almost there Skye!!" Ryder called up from the harness. The helicopter lowered a little more, setting his feet on the ledge next to the Alex and Mr. Porter. "Don't worry you guys, we're going to get you out of here. Marshall you ready?" He pulled away the tree trunk that had just barely missed them.

"You bet Ryder!" The Dalmation poked his head from below the ledge. "Come on Alex, were gonna use my ladder to get you down." He started back down, as Alex joined him in the ladder.

"And the harness to get you down, Mr. Porter." Called Skye.

"Ok, but what about Ryder?" Mr. Porter wondered as his feet left the ground.

"Don't worry," Skye reassured him setting him gently next to Marshall's truck. "I'm going back for him now." Ryder prepared to get the harness when it came to him, but a cracking noise made him look down. Cracks stretched around the small ledge, even from where Marshall was standing on the ground. He gasped.

"Hurry Skye!!" He barked hurriedly. The ledge cracked more, Marshall's breath caught in his throat and his heart began to race. He violently whipped around and smashed the 'ladder up' button on his dash board, immediately beginning to climb the moving ladder.

"Almost... there." The pup strained, sweat beginning to moisten his brow. The ledge cracked once more, then crumbled. "NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Marshall screamed extending a paw, as Ryder fell into a cloud of dust. His blue eyes glazing over as the ledge became rocks and dust. Skye gasped and held her breath, quickly turning her copter to land. As the cloud arose, Marshall slumped down over his ladder's top rung; letting his, once, extended paw and head dangle lifelessly from his body. Almost automatically the ladder lowered, and he jumped down; just as Skye blazed by him. Ryder lay still on his back amongst the rubble, as the dust cleared.

"Ryder? Ryder?" The Cockapoo poked him gently a couple times. The boy stirred and open his eyes, then slowly rolled up to a sitting position. The dazed leader shook the dizziness from his head and coughed.

"I'm ok pups." He said hoarsely. He coughed again, then looked down.

"Oh my gosh, Ryder, are you alright?" Mr. Porter asked, coming to help him up. He tried to lift him up from behind, but a searing pain in the boy's leg made him grimace. Mr. Porter set him down immediately, and the two pups closed in. The debris had completely trapped his right leg.

"Ryder, are you ok?" Skye asked, both she and Marshall looking close to tears.

"Uh, yeah, I'm ok pups." Ryder shrugged. "But I could use some help." Marshall and Skye quickly scampered to the pile of rocks and rolled away one after the other, until the rest fell away exposing the leg. Mr. Porter took Ryder's left arm, then his right and helped him up again. Attempting to stand on it, he grunted and withdrew the weight on it.

"Careful Ryder," Mr. Porter warned.

"Ryder!!" Alex cried hurrying over to him. "Are you ok?!" His blue eyes flashing with worry.

"I think so, Alex." Ryder smiled calmly, limping toward his ATV; still assisted by Mr. Porter. "Marshall call Chase, tell him to bring the PAW Patroller and your EMT gear."

"You got it Ryder!" The Dalmatian hopped up into his truck and barked into his Pup-tag.

"Chase, we need the PAW Patroller!!" Chase's sheriff-star Pup-tag flashed as Marshall's voice cracked through it.

"Uh... ok why?" The German Shepard's innocent confusion broke Marshall's heart.

"It's Ryder, he's..." the pup trailed off. Chase's expression changed from one of confusion, to that of horror upon hearing this. His stomach suddenly dropped and his heart pounded...

"Ryder are you ok!!!" Chase cried bursting out of the PAW Patroller as soon as the door opened. If the other pups had followed, which they did, he wouldn't have known. He was numb to anything, but the thought of Ryder; and the story Marshall had told him of what had happened. Ryder was sitting sideways on his ATV, he turned toward them as they approached. He could see the panic in his pup's eyes.

"Chase calm down!" He told him, as the German Shepard jumped up into the seat next to him and buried his face in his chest. "I'm ok." He stroked the pup's head, then turned to Marshall. "Marshall, grab you EMT gear.-"

"Don't have to ask me twice!!!" The Dalmatian called over his shoulder. Chase released Ryder, and sat down; brushing away a tear that everyone was surprised to see.

"Woah, we've almost never seen Chase cry before." Zuma whispered to Rocky.

"I know, but could you blame him. We all love Ryder. And it was scary to know that he might be hurt." The mixed breed slumped down a little, wanting to cry himself. Marshall flew by the circle of worried pups. Mr. Porter standing off to the side with his hands on Alex's shoulders, both highly concerned for the leader of the PAW Patrol.

"Arf, arf!! X-ray!!" Marshall barked. He ran the screen across Ryder's right leg, and his heart sank. "It's just as I thought." He said finally, as the screen folded away. He sat down sadly, slowly meeting Ryder's gaze. "It looks like you've broken your tibia in two places, Ryder." Gasped rippled from the group of pups. Chase's shock showed by his flattened ears and glazed brown eyes.

"Oh no!" Rubble cried. He paused. "What's a tibia?" He wondered finally.

"It's one of the longest bones in Ryder's leg." Marshall explained, he pointed to Ryder's lower leg; to reinforce his reply. "The good news is it's a clean break, so we won't need to do anything to fix it. We'll just cast it with plaster, and keep him off of it for six to eight weeks."

"Weeks? But what about our missions?" Skye protested. "How are we going to protect Adventure Bay?"

"The way we always do." Ryder answered in his normally calm way. "By working as a team. Let's get back to the Lookout, so we can figure this out... together."

Marshall temporarily wrapped Ryder's leg, while Rocky used his forklift to place Ryder's ATV into the PAW Patroller. Using the crutch from Marshall's truck and Mr. Porter's support, Ryder made his way into the PAW Patroller. Chase stuck close by, hopping up onto the seat next to Ryder; unwillingly to sit where he usually did. Marshall couldn't take his eyes off of him, his gut twisted in his abdomen. Tears threatened to escape his eyes, but he bit his lip and looked away.

"Take us home Robo-dog." Ryder commanded, as everyone was seated. All the pups' vehicles had been packed up in the PAW Patroller, so they started back to Adventure Bay. "We can drop you off at the restaurant if you want, Mr. Porter." Ryder said, as they entered town on Main Street.

"Uh, thank you Ryder but, uh, we were actually wondering if we could stick around for a little while longer. If that's ok." Mr. Porter answered slowly.

"Sure." Ryder smiled nodding, he knew that they wanted to be sure everything was alright. When the PAW Patroller pulled up to the Lookout, they all took Ryder inside and set him down on one of the beanbags in the main living area.

"Ok, pups." Marshall spoke up, trying to hide the flatness in his tone. "Let's prepare the plaster for the cast. And get the special paper for it too, I have some in my truck." As the pups scattered, Zuma pushed up a cushioned stool.

"Here you go Ryder. So you can put your leg up." The Chocolate Lab attempted a smile.

"Thanks Zuma." Ryder grinned setting his wounded leg gingerly up onto the stool. Zuma was amazed how calm Ryder was, given the situation, but forced a bigger smile. Then turned and ran off to find the other pups. Chase simply stood there, just to the left of thte door, facing the inside looking at Ryder. Alex was sitting there talking to him, while Mr. Porter helped the other pups collect the items necessary for the cast. But Chase just stood there... like he was frozen in time while everything else went on around him. All he could look at was Ryder and imagine what it had looked like; to see him fall. He tried to ignore them, but these thoughts were slowly eating away at him. He tried to shake it off, but the feeling had almost fully consumed him. To the point that he was essentially trapped in an infinite nightmare, his worst nightmare come true right in front of him. His mind was spinning; he wanted to help, but didn't want to leave Ryder. He wanted to keep Ryder company, but feared he would crumble to bits in front of everyone. They'd already seen him shed a tear once, he hadn't really wanted them to see him completely fall apart; one tear was more than enough for him. But still he stood there; still frozen, still not sure what to do.

"Chase come on, don't you wanna help?" Zuma called to him. All Chase heard was a muffled, distant echo, more followed all sounding like anything other than words. Just the same, he hollowly walked forward toward them sitting down amongst his fellow pups.

"I think it's ready." Mr. Porter told them stirring the white, liquidy substance.

"You wanna help, Alex?" Skye asked, steadily wagging her tail.

"Sure!" Alex cried happily. "I mean, if you don't mind." He shot an unsure glance at Ryder.

"Of course you can, Alex." Ryder beamed. Alex smiled and joined the pups, Marshall supervised and helped instruct the pups on what to do. All the pups were elbow deep in this project... except one. And Ryder noticed this immediately, but knew it was a conversation to have with just the two of them alone... later.

"You ok Chase?" He asked, wondering if he'd even hear him.

"Uh..huh? Uh, yeah... I'm fine." Chase stuttered, shaking himself out of the trance he felt like he was still trapped in.

"Ok... but, you know, I'm here if you need to talk." Ryder reminded him. Chase straightened up at this, he knew that Ryder was on to him, and decided to act like he wasn't; to avoid talking about it.

"There, all done." Marshall said, smoothing down one last piece.

"You know, it was kinda fun doing this." Zuma commented.

"Yeah, it was almost like doing papier-mâché!" Rocky squeaked. Ryder laughed and the others joined him. Chase laid down and set his chin on to his paws, then slowly crept out of the room and out the door. Retreating into the darkening evening, he dove into his house; just as the tears flooded down his face. He was glad he got out of there when he did. He wasn't sure how much longer he could hold it together, now he just prayed that no one saw him or would notice he was gone for a while. The pain he felt was agonizing, and the hurt that gripped him was like a vest that was too small for him. His chest felt compressed, like nothing could escape it. But, yet, somehow intense, painful sobs managed to force their way out of him. He muffled his own cries with both paws over his face, as he huddled deep in the back corners of his pup house.

 **Phew!! Done! This story conecpt was suggested to me a few weeks ago or so and I finally decided to start it! So thank you, Amilia13!! I was going to start it sooner, but I had other stories I wanted to tie up first. I didn't get all of them, but I chose to start it anyway. Hope you guys enjoy! Can't wait to hear your thoughts about it!! Thx!!!**


	2. Tender Wounds

Chapter two: Tender Wounds

"Hope you get better soon, Ryder." Mr. Porter commented, as he and Alex prepared to leave.

"Me too!" Alex sighed. "Thanks for letting us stick around Ryder. It was..kinda fun!"

"No problem Alex. Whenever there's a problem, just yelp for help!" Ryder still remained as positive as ever, even despite all that had happened today.

"And if you need anything while your leg heals, don't hesitate to call." Mr. Porter reinforced this offer for the third time today.

"I will. Thank you, Mr. Porter." Ryder nodded his thanks.

"Come on, Mr. Porter, Alex." Rocky called bounding up to him. "Rubble and I will take you home in the PAW Patroller."

"Thanks Rocky," Mr. Porter answered gratefully, following the pups. "Well goodnight to you all."

"Goodnight!" Marshall, Skye, and Zuma called back. The door slid closed and the silence ensued, in the sudden quietness they all realized something.

"Hey, Where's Chase?" Marshall was the first to voice the thought that came to all their minds.

"We should go find him." Ryder suggested, grabbing his crutches.

"No Ryder!" Marshall spoke up. "You stay and rest. We'll go look for him." Zuma and Skye nodded at each other in agreement. Ryder willingly gave in and relaxed back again, and the three pups bounded off together.

"The best place to look for him, first, is his pup-house." Skye openly suggested, as they ran on towards the blue Police style house. Stopping short in front of it, they saw that the door was shut.

"Hm, guess Chase decided to turn in early." Zuma thought aloud. Marshall adopted an unsure looked, then shrugged it off and followed the other two pups; to tell Ryder what they found. Inside the quiet house was a sniffly, miserable, sleeping pup, who squirmed uneasily in his sleep.

The moon was now high in the sky, as Chase's busy mind took on more traffic from a train of thought, that had been chugging along in his head all day since the accident...

 _Chase found himself standing at the top of Marshall's ladder. A cracking noise made him look up, to his horror there was Ryder waving and calling for help. Skye hovered closer._

 _"Ryder!!" Chase cried out. His voice echoed, but no one seemed to hear him. The ledge cracked more. Suddenly he was spilled over the edge of the ladder, and grabbed the top rung and clung to it tightly. Marshall appeared where he had once been, he reached out a paw. As the ladder seemed to moved closer to Ryder._

 _"Almost there!!" Marshall strained, his voice sounding distant, as he desperately tried to get there. But the ledge crumbled before their eyes._

 _"NOOOOOO!!!!!" Chase and Marshall cried together, tears immediately jumping to the German Shepard's eyes at the sight of Ryder falling. Marshall slumped and Chase squeezed his eyes shut hoping for this to end._

 _"Why weren't you here Chase?" Marshall's voice sounded clearer, making him look up at him. Marshall's hollowly, blank looking, blue eyes bore into his terrified brown ones. "Where were you Chase?" Marshall questioned again._

 _"I...I...I don't know. I.." Chase stammered trying to remember._

 _"You could have saved him." Marshall told him blankly, almost as though he were a robot. "If you had been there."_

 _"Marshall- I..."_

 _"You could have stopped this." Marshall said._

 _"I'm sorry!!" Chase bawled uncontrollably, "I didn't know!! I DIDN'T KNOW!!!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. Marshall's words echoed back and forth across his mind, as the scene faded away; and Chase lay in darkness alone crying. A small light caught his glance, Zuma, Rocky and Rubble we're slowly walking towards him._

 _"We should have gone to help sooner." They said at the same time. "We should have called if they needed us sooner." They continued advancing toward him. Chase began to slowly creep away from them. But they kept coming, repeating these statements, when another light appeared behind him. Whipping around, he feared it would be Marshall again. But what he saw, instead, made his heart clenched in his chest. Ryder was laying unconscious under the pile of rubble, not moving, not speaking. The pups stopped behind home, as if frozen, as Chase ran forward. He wanted to get to Ryder's side, but an invisible force stopped him. Suddenly the ground cracked again, originating from under Ryder. The cracks extended out and Chase had to step back. The cracks emitted a light for a few seconds, before crumbling into darkness taking Chase, Ryder and the other pups with it..._

Chase was upright in a flash, his heart pounded and his breaths were fast and gasping. Realizing what had happened he tried to calm down, but the memories of the nightmare he'd just had, broke him; to the point that he crumbled once more. Burying his face in his paws again he tried to hold back the tears... but to no avail. He stayed like that for the rest of the night, his cries almost echoing in the coming dawn...

Chase lay still, hugging Officer Bear loosely in his forepaws, when a knock on his door stirred him from his slumber.

"Chase, are you awake?" Rocky's soft high voice was muffled a little by the door.

"Uh... yeah." The German Shepard answered, wiping the sleep from his puffy, once, tear-soaked eyes. "Why?" Came Chase's next response.

"It's 9 a.m. Ryder's worried about you. You don't usually sleep this long." Rocky told him. _Oh great!_ Chase silently cursed himself.

"I...I'll be right there." Chase called back. Then he heard the sound of paws padding away. Opening the door, he peeked out to check if the coast was clear, then slipped out into the morning air. The sun was just peaking over the horizon, beginning to melt away the morning dew that was nestled on the ground from the cool of night. Chase stretched and yawned, looking into his bowl of water he saw his red bloodshot eyes. Quickly splashing the water in his face, he decided that that made him look not quite so teary. He slowly walked to the door of the Lookout, his heart began to pump a little faster. His paws trembled as he approached the doors. He stopped for a moment, taking a deep breath he pulled himself together and entered the quiet room. Ryder was sitting right where he left him last night, the pups all sat around him. They all turned toward him when they heard the door slide open. As soon as Chase entered, the pups all felt the atmosphere shift; but to what... none of them had a clue. Chase walked slowly through the circle of pups and approached Ryder. Upon reaching him, he sat down staring at the ground, then daring himself to roll his eyes up to look at Ryder. Ryder instantly saw the distress, still, in his eyes, looking up the other pups looked away; all avoiding eye contact with either of them.

"Can you pups give us a minute?" Ryder asked finally, gazing around at his pups. They all stood, nodding they turned and ran out the door leaving him and Chase alone. Chase watched until the door clicked shut, then turned back to meet Ryder's glance; as if hearing something from him.

"Chase, what's wrong?" Ryder asked him, tenderly placing a hand on his head.

"Nothing." Chase answered firmly, shifting sideways and closer to Ryder.

"Come on, something's wrong." Ryder said, pulling Chase close, the pup still avoiding eye contact. "You're upset and you've been crying, I can tell." Chase's head slowly turned toward him, he shot a quick glance up at him then looked away again.

"It's...just that... I was so worried!!" He finally gave in, launching himself up at Ryder and wrapping his paws around him. Ryder was taken aback by this sudden change, but hugged him close anyway.

"I know... we all were. It was scary, I get it." Ryder soothed. Chase stared at him, in shock, with his tearful brown eyes.

"Were you scared?!" He almost didn't believe it. He had known Ryder since he was a really little pup, he never thought that he was ever really _scared_.

"Of course I was." Ryder confirmed, pulling Chase in to his chest, and set his chin on the pup's head. "It was a terrible accident. Anyone would be scared." Chase thought about this, feeling Ryder's comforting embrace. "But it's ok." Chase perked up at this. "It's ok to be scared." Ryder continued. "But everything's ok now, and we are all safe and sound."

"Well most of us are sound." Chase answered dryly, looking away again as they broke apart.

"Hey." Ryder said, pulling Chase's chin up to meet his gaze. "I'll heal. And I'll be back on duty in no time. But in the meantime..." Chase searched his face for what he thinking and going to say.

The pups scrambled to their feet, as they heard the door open again. All that met them was Chase standing their staring at the ground, still as a statue.

"So Chase, what did Ryder say?!" Rocky asked hopefully.

"He wants me to lead the PAW Patrol until he gets better." Chase said, walking away, unwilling to look at them. Rocky's wagging tail stopped and frowns were spread amongst the group; as they watched Chase go. When Chase reached his house, he went in and curled up in a ball in the back corners closing the door behind him.

 **How's it going everybody!!! To just to clarify, being a Christian, when I say 'cursed' it's more of a 'why did I do that?!' Or 'shoot they figured it out!' type thing; not a cussing thing. Also I forgot to mention that Zuma's lisp is still there, I'm and just not sure how to write it in. So imagine it's still there. Hope you're still liking this story. And thank you sooo much for the amazing comments! Thx!!!!!!!! 3 3**


	3. Piecing Things Back Together

Chapter three: Piecing Things Back Together

The pups all strode back in to see Ryder.

"Um, Ryder?" Rubble started, shakily.

"Is Chase ok?" Marshall finished.

"He's fine pups." Ryder assured them. "He just needs a little alone time right now. The accident yesterday really scared him. I think he just needs a little time to himself, to relax. You know?"

"Ok Ryder." The pups nodded.

"Come here." He told them, gesturing with his arms out. The pups wasted no time, they all put their paws up onto his lap they shared a group hug. "Now." He said breaking the long embrace. "Why don't you pups go play. I'll call you on your Pup-tags if I need anything."

"Okay." The pups nodded and barked, then scampered out the door again. Marshall stopped, just inside the door, leaning back off his left paw to glance back at him.

"You sure you don't want company?" He asked curiously, searching the boy's face.

"I'll be alright Marshall," Ryder grinned. "But you can stay if you want to." Marshall thought for a second.

"Ok." Then he trotted out of the room, and Ryder relaxed back. He sighed calmly in the silence that was left behind.

The door of Chase's pup house remained closed, the pups huddled together in the middle of the yard and glanced from one to another. Rocky nervously cleared his throat.

"So... do you think Chase is doing ok?" The pups all remained quiet, as if searching for what to say.

Chase rolled onto his back, his thoughts still wandering through the events of the last, _almost_ , twenty-four hours. He didn't want to think about it, but couldn't stop himself. Just when he would get himself to think about something else... he'd somehow end up thinking about it again. Flashbacks of the night before came in shocks, he flinched at each one. The echoes of the pups' voices and Ryder's cries, and the crash of the rocks falling and his own horrified scream, made him clenched his eyes closed. He covered his ears in an attempt to block out the sound, but it only grew louder. Tears had begun to well up again, he could feel them stinging the back of his eyes. He bit his lip to try and willfully stop them from coming, but simply couldn't force them back for long. He, once again, covered his face to avoid drawing attention to himself. He had already heard the pups playing outside in the yard. He didn't want them _'checking on him'_ anytime soon. Sniffling and brushing away the tears, he felt a heaviness settle upon his eyelids; and somehow didn't feel like opening them. Slowly, his mind faded away as sleep crept into the, now silent, room.

"Chase? Are you ok in there?" Skye asked, after they had knocked for the second time.

"Is the door locked?" Marshall wondered, peering over Rocky and Rubble. Zuma took the handle and pulled up, it moved, opening a crack. Zuma glanced at the pups, before pulling it up about half way. Inside they found Chase; sound asleep and pressed firmly against the back wall of his house. Each pups found this unusual, but chose not to say so. Zuma shut the door again, and they all walked quietly away from the house.

"What's wrong Marshall?" Ryder asked, seeing the troubled glance on the Dalmatian's face. Marshall stopped where he was, continuing to stare at the ground in front of him and sighed.

"I... I'm worried about Chase." He admitted. "We found him sleeping in his house just a second ago."

"He probably didn't sleep very good last night. He _was_ really worried." Ryder reassured him.

"Yeah,... right." The red fire pup nodded, sighing again; desperately wanting to believe him.

"Just give him a little time." Ryder encourage further, shifting his position a little. "He'll come around... eventually."

"You feeling any pain?" Marshall asked, changing the subject.

"Maybe a little, yeah." Ryder admitted.

"Ok, I've got something to help with that." The Dalmatian, then, bounded off to find the item in which he spoke of.

Chase shot up, awake in a snap. His breaths came harshly to his body, and his eyes wide. His face and paws were soaked from crying, he hoped no one had heard him. He wished he could stop feeling like this, but then he thought about it, and couldn't help but feel it anyway.

"I can't keep doing this!!" He said to himself. He knew it would only be a matter of time, before the team becomes worried enough to ask if he's alright; to which he knew he wasn't. But he still hadn't a clue what to do about it, except for he didn't want to talk about it; especially with the other pups. And definitely _not_ with Ryder, he didn't want to worry him. But, then again, he didn't really want to lead the team without Ryder either. _I guess I'll just have to fake to all til Ryder gets better._ He silently concluded. _But maybe I should start that tomorrow._ He realized, remembering how much he'd cried today. His eyes itched from the irritation of his tears from earlier. He drew in a deep breath and wiped his face again, to clear up the remaining tears. Pressing his eyes into his paws, he removed them and blinked a few times. He attempted a smile... but failed due to the hurt still piercing his insides. He was about to open his door to go find the pups, but he just lay there staring at the door.

"He's been in there all day." Marshall said, still sitting there staring at Chase's door from a distance.

"Relax Marshall." Rocky reassured him, setting another red bone on top of the colorful bone Jenga tower. "Ryder's probably right, Chase did seem more worried about him than the rest of us." Zuma sat across from the grey mixed breed and began his turn; Rubble peeked around the tall tower of bones at Marshall.

"Yeah dude!" The Chocolate Lab concurred. "Chase'll come around, you'll see!"

"But don't you think he'd have done it by now?" The Dalmatian protested.

"Maybe he's still sleeping." Skye guessed, continuing to bounce on the trampoline. Marshall gave a half-hearted smiled, which faded two seconds later. When an car engine made him search for its origin. It didn't take long, as a familiar orange car drove up the long Lookout driveway.

"Mayor Goodway?" Skye said, slowing her hopping to a standstill.

"What if something's wrong!!" Rubble cried, shooting a worried glance around at them.

"Wrong?" Marshall perked up at this and took off across yard toward the Lookout. The pups looked at each other, then scrambled after him.

"Mayor Goodway, Mayor Goodway!! Is everything ok?!" Marshall barked, as he approached her car.

"Where's Ryder I need to see him right away!!" The Mayor responded urgently.

"He's in the Lookout." Skye said, the pups finally joining them. "Come on!"

"Ryder!!" The boy's eyes opened immediately, upon hearing his name. He rolled his head over to the left to see Mayor Goodway's stunned expression. The pups standing in her shadow.

"Oh, hi, Mayor Good-"

"Oh, Ryder, thank heavens you're alright!!" The Mayor cut him off dre

ing closer. "When I heard about you're accident from Mr. Porter, I just _had_ to come over to check on you."

"Uh... thanks Mayor," Ryder grinned thankfully. "But everything's fine. The pups have been taking great care of me. Right pups?" A lot of _'yes ma'am's'_ and barks replied.

"Oh, but, what about Adventure Bay?!" The mayor wailed sadly. "How can you and the PAW Patrol protect our town with out you?"

"Don't worry Mayor Goodway." Ryder comforted her confidently. "Chase will lead the rescues while I'm gone."

"Oh, well thank goodness." The mayor brushed her hand across her forehead. "Thank you Cha- Where is Chase?" The mayor gazed around. Every pup was present, except the one in question. Marshall dropped his gaze, then opened his mouth to speak.

"Here." Chase's voice cut him off and they whipped around. Mayor Goodway smiled at the sight of him, but the other pups stood there as though they'd just seen a _real_ ghost. The German Shepard just stood there, bashfully dropping his gaze he kicked the imaginary dust and strode slowly forward. Sitting down before her, he gazed up at her with an unconvincing smile; at least unconvincing to Marshall.

"Uh, don't worry Mayor Goodway." Chase began slowly in a low voice. "The Pups and I'll handle things while Ryder recovers." The Mayor beamed wider, clasping her hands together in front of her chest in gratitude.

"That's fantastic Chase!!" Mayor Goodway said finally, bending over to scratch him behind the ears. Chase willingly accepted this gesture, closing his eyes and leaning his head into her hand. "Well," She sighed standing at her full height again. "Now that that's settled, I have other things I must attend to. Thanks again Ryder! Pups!" She called over her shoulder. as she strode to her car.

"You're welcome, mayor." Ryder called back, waving. The pups remained in a circle a few feet away from Ryder, while Chase steadily paced to the open doorway; watching the Mayor drive away. Skye smiled and leaned toward Zuma.

"Maybe Chase is doing alright after all." She whispered to him. Marshall looked from them to Chase, the others turning their attention to Ryder. The sun was setting and the nearly cloudless sky was pigmented shades of pink, purple, and orange. Chase dropped his head and walked out of the room and out toward his house again. As Chase left, Marshall caught a glimpse of Chase's face; and wondered if Skye's statement was really true.

Chase's glance was downcast and remained so, as he made his way back to his house. His tail sagged, not wagging once since the day had begun; with the exception of a few minutes ago. As he reached his house, he wondered if he had looked convincing enough. Obviously Mayor Goodway seemed to think nothing was wrong; it was the other pups and Ryder that he was more concerned about. As he entered his pup house and curled up, snuggling down with Officer Bear, he wondered how long he could keep up this charade. But then realized he just _had_ to, he knew the pups were worried about him. Especially after seeing that single tear from the day before, he wasn't about to let that happen again. He couldn't possibly let his team, or Ryder, down by letting them see his weakness. The thought of his friends seeing him cry the way he had the last twenty-four hours, was a thought he couldn't bare to see come true! Chase was practically Ryder's right-hand pup, and for the others to see him crumble to bits after one rescue gone wrong, was a sickening thought. He bit his lip uneasily, _I can never let that happen again!_ He thought. _What kind of a leader would I be if can't hold it together after one accident!_ Then the full realization of his new role hit him, like waking up from a dream and realizing the events of the dream were real. _I'm the leader now._ He concluded. Shivers rippled up and down his back at the thought of it, making the hair on his back stand on end. His paws quivered, _how can **I** be the leader?_ But as he thought about it, his thoughts slowly morphed in and out about it, when his mind was finally put to rest; for the time being anyway.

 **Hey guys what's up?!?! Glad you guys are still enjoying my work!! I have so many plans for fanfics just like this one!! So I hope you guys stay tuned, cause more is yet to come. Both in the fanfic, and in more!! Thx!!!!!!**


	4. Changes?

Chapter four: Changes?

Ryder was thankful for the extra support of the crutches, his balance has been heavily obscured by his injury. And the cast was heavier than it looked, but he didn't mind it so much. _At least I'll get stronger muscles._ The thought brought and smile to his face, and a smirk with it. The elevator had messed up his balance also, but only for a short time. Setting the crutches out in front of him and hopping forward, he made his way to his room; repeating this sequence. Making it to his bed he sat down to pause for a rest, getting around was a lot harder than he'd thought. Ryder sat there a moment longer, as of waiting for something to happen. He was about to rise again to prepare for bed, when...

"Ryder?" Ryder froze at the sight of Marshall standing there in the quiet doorway.

"Hey Marshall." The boy greeted warmly. "What's up?" The red fire pup hesitated, before stepping further into the room.

"Do you think.. we'll be ok without you? On our missions, I mean?" Marshall's tone remained staccato and unsure as he spoke.

"Of course I do." Ryder answered. "You guys are a team, and Chase will be a great leader. I know you pups can do it."

"Right, but, what if something happens and we don't know what to do?" Marshall protested quickly, hopping up onto the bed next to him.

"I'll be here at the Lookout if you need me, I'm just a Pup-tag call away." Ryder assured him, placing a gentle hand on his head.

"Ok." Marshall finally gave in.

"Look, if Chase needs your help, he won't hesitate to ask. And if you all need help, _don't_ hesitate to ask me. I'll be here." Ryder's tender smile and warm embrace, made Marshall feel a little better; and a little more encouraged. "And besides," Ryder continued. "It won't be forever. I'll be back on duty as soon as I can."

"Ok, thanks Ryder." Marshall said, licking the boy's face, then hopped down to head out of the room.

"You're welcome Marshall, good night!" Ryder called after him. The Dalmatian stopped in the doorway, peered back to say _'goodnight'_ , then disappeared back to the elevator to head to bed.

 _Chase was tossed over the ladder again, he squeezed his eyes closed. Looking down he saw Ryder, again, passed out amongst the rubble. Marshall questioned him and then he was bombarded by the other pups again. He crouched down to cover his face, their voices echoing again and again. He threw his head up, and at the top of his lungs he screamed: "NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!"..._

Chase nearly choked on his breaths, his stomach twisted and he felt sick. He hiccuped and sniffled, forcing himself to breathe steadily. The pups' words stung, and he half believed they'd say it for real. His breath finally slowed and he paused, cringing again he broke into a terrible gut wrenching sob. He finally gave up trying to hold back tears, and simply focused on keeping it quiet enough for no one to notice.

"Wake up pups!!" Chase called, banging on Marshall's door. He ran around and knocked on each of the pups' doors rousing them from their sleep.

"What?" Skye said sleepily, a yawn interrupting her thoughts.

"What time is it?" Rocky asked, slowly crawling out of his house.

"*yawn* Early." Zuma replied. He shielded his eyes and squinted toward the sun rising out of the distant horizon. The darkness and coolness of the night faded away, as the warmth of the sun reached across the land. Chase scampered wildly around them.

"Come on, pups!" The German Shepard called. crouching down; ready to play. "It's time to wake up!" He gave a little hop, almost hoping it would encourage his friends to wake up.

"You look tired Chase." Marshall noticed, finally emerging from his house. "Are you ok?"

"Sure, never better!" Chase flashed a smile, his tail steadily wagging. "Come on let's go!"

"Go?" Rubble asked, peering around, still wearing his mask. "Go where?" Chase bounded up and pulled the mask up away from the bulldog's eyes.

"To play... or something." Chase shrugged at the last part.

"Let's get some breakfast first." Skye smiled.

"Oh," Chase realized shrinking back a little, "right!" He took off toward the Lookout, overtaking the pups easily because they were still walking; some still staggering out of their slumber.

Ryder was just exiting his room, when the pups arrived on the upper level.

"Mornings pups. Sleep well?" He said, greeting them as they approached him.

"Yeah. Sure, can we go get breakfast now?" Rubble answered hurriedly, shrugging off Ryder's question.

"Ok." Ryder chuckled at Rubble's usual excitement for food. "Let's go!" Everyone filed into the elevator and began their descent.

After breakfast, Chase dragged all the pups outside to play.

"Uh Chase? What are we doing out here?" Marshall asked, cocking his head at the sight in front of him. The German Shepard had dragged out, what seemed like a bunch of random items.

"Well I was thinking we could play Circus. We have everything we need, we could organize the yard like a circus yard!" Chase responded, taking hold of an old tire. _This seemed unusual, Chase was so... normal compared to what he was like yesterday. What had changed?_ They all wondered, but no one could place it. Hesitantly they all joined Chase, they figured they should give this a chance; it _did_ seem fun after all. Chase barked out his zip line, he shot it between two trees and let it go; creating the tightrope. Zuma and Rubble helped Skye drag the trampoline closer to the area of the yard that they were using.

"Hey, Chase!!" Rocky called, bounding up to him; wrapped in some colorful materials. "What about these parachutes? We could make a Big Top tent with them; like Raymundo's."

"That's perfect Rocky!!" Chase gushed, not quite as enthusiastic as he could have been. "Got any poles or something to prop them up on?"

"Ha! Do I?!" Rocky scoffed, taking off back toward his truck; leaving the colorful parachutes behind. Chase glanced up to see Ryder up in the Lookout's upper level. His smile faded into a small frown, as his thoughts drifted away from him again. Shaking it off, he forced himself to turn away from the Lookout and back to the other pups bustling about the yard. When it was finished, they had their own circus just like Raymundo's. Zuma _had_ to get Chase to do the teeter-totter act with him. And Rubble and Marshall wanted to be the clowns, the Dalmatian never had a problem being funny. Rocky decided not to be a clown because of the water part of the act, so he pretended to be an acrobat. He'd hop around on his back paws, walk on only his front paws, or even do backflips. Skye enjoyed the trampoline act the most and was eventually joined by Zuma and Rocky on an inflatable landing pad bouncing away. At times, they'd get out of control and bump into one another, but that sometimes made it more fun. Then Marshall, Rubble, Skye did their _'triple decker pup'_ trick and the pups ended with a puppy pyramid. Zuma, Chase, and Marshall on the bottom(in that order), Rocky and Rubble on the second row; and Skye bounced on the tramp launching herself into the top.

"Ta-da!!!" The pups yelled happily, finishing they're little show. Clapping from above them got their attention, and they looked up. Ryder stood on the balcony, his crutches braced under his arms for support as he applauded the pups' performance.

"Great job pups!" He called, down to them; placing his hand back on the handles of his crutches.

"Thanks Ryder." Skye called back, as they disassembled their tower.

"Wow Chase!" Rocky gasped thoughtfully. "That _was_ fun!"

"Yeah," the German Shepard nodded, kinda flatly. "So what do you wanna do now?"

"How 'bout we get some lunch!" Rubble suggested. "I'm starved!!" The pups just giggled.

"Oh Rubble!" Skye chuckled. As they headed toward the Lookout again. As they got closer, Chase started to slowly peel away from the rest of the group.

"Chase, aren't you coming?" Skye asked, stopping him in his tracks.

"Uh...yeah, you guys go ahead. I'll catch up in a minute." Chase answered, almost half-heartedly. Skye stood there a moment staring at him, but then turned and left with the other pups. As soon as he heard the door slide closed, Chase slumped down. Letting down the mask of a smile he forced himself to wear since he got up this morning, his frown indicating his true feelings... as he slipped into his house and closed the door.

 **Here's the next chapter!! Sorry I haven't gotten it out sooner, but I got stuck and then family stuff happened, and I didn't get to it. But anyway, here it is! Hope you enjoy! Thx!!!**


	5. Strange Behavior

Chapter five: Strange Behavior

The pups were happily enjoying their lunch, Rubble digging in as soon as Ryder put his food in front of him. The pups gratefully accepted their food, politely thanking Ryder for it and burying their muzzles into their bowls.

"Hey." Marshall realized between mouthfuls. "Where's Chase?" Skye pulled her head up and finished a mouthful of her own.

"I don't know." The Cockapoo shrugged. "He said he was right behind us."

"Really? But that was a while ago." Rubble discovered, looking the time.

"Don't worry, guys! I'll got check on him." Rocky offered, bounding off toward the door. Slowing to a steady trot, he approached Chase's house, guessing that that's where he'd find him. Upon reaching it, he found that he was right. The door was closed. Pressing an ear to it, he heard the steady rise and fall of the sleeping German Shepard. Rocky heard a sudden clunk, as Chase shifted his position and backed off. Turning around he headed back to the other pups, more troubled than before...

The pups and Ryder turned at the sound of door sliding open, revealing the perplexed, mixed-breed pup.

"Hey, did you find Chase?" Marshall asked, standing up as soon as he saw Rocky coming toward them again.

"Yeah, I found him." Rocky sighed, quizzically looking away.

"What's wrong Rocky?" Skye asked, picking up on the pup's confusion.

"Well..."

"Is Chase ok?!" Marshall cut him off, beginning to panic. His eyes wide and his heart beginning to pound; adrenaline rising up in him at the thought of what could be wrong.

"No, no, he's ok!" Rocky cried, seeing the horror and worry on their faces. "It's just that... he's sleeping." The terrified expressions on their faces became quizzical along with Rocky's.

"Sleeping? But I thought he was just going to get something and be right back?" Skye thought aloud.

"Well he was asleep from what I could hear. The door was closed again." Rocky returned, shrugging one shoulder.

"This is soo weird!" Zuma voiced the thought that everyone was thinking. "Chase almost _never_ takes a nap."

"He also doesn't disappear on us like this, without telling us what he's doing." Skye added suspiciously. Ryder scratched his chain thoughtfully.

"Don't worry, pups. I'll go talk to him." He said, standing up and made his way outside to Chase's pup house. Taking one of the plastic crates sitting close by, he turned it upside down and sat down on it.

"Chase?" He said, knocking on the door. "Are you awake?" A few muffled thuds returned and the door slowly opened. Chase emerged sleepily yawning and rubbing his eyes with his paws. His fur looked ruffled and possibly wet from... crying? Ryder couldn't tell.

"Yeah," the German Shepard yawned again, stretching uncomfortably; his red eyes a little puffy.

"Chase are you ok? This is not like you to take a nap at a time like this. In fact you almost never take a naps anymore." Ryder explained.

"Oh um..." Chase looked away, trying to think of something to say.

"Is everything ok?" Ryder raised an eyebrow at him.

"Oh yeah! Great!" Chase answered with an unconvincing smile. "Man, I'm hungry!" The blue Police pup shrugged off the question, walking away. "Let's go get some lunch!" Ryder gazed after him, his suspicion growing further as Chase disappeared into the Lookout. He turned his head around again, and dropped his gaze to the floor.

"Ryder?" The boy turned around again, just in time to see Katie stop a couple feet from him. She held Cali in her arms, wearing a concerned smile on her face.

"Oh, hi Katie." Ryder smiled waving. "What's up?"

"We heard about your accident." Katie told him, coming closer; as Ryder took his crutches and stood up. "Are you alright?"

"Uh, Yeah. It's been a little hard to get around, but I've managed." Ruder shrugged. "I'm more worried about Chase right now." He gazed past her in the direction Chase disappeared in. Katie followed his gaze, the looked back at him.

"Why? Was he hurt too?" Katie raised her own eyebrow curiously, growing a little more worried.

"Well... no. But he was _really_ worried about me the day it happened." Ryder returned. "But he's been acting strange ever since." Katie's troubled look matched Ryder's.

"Maybe he just needs a little more time to process it." Katie reasoned. "I mean, it was a few days ago, right?"

"Yeah." Ryder gave in slowly gazing off again. "Maybe."

Chase had gotten his own food and as quietly eating, the pups stood a short distance away; watching him. They had seen the sleep still in his eyes when he came in and still slightly saw it; even now. His calm demeanor seemed off, and definitely not normal. Chase finished his food and raised his head up. He licked his lips and looked up at them.

"What?" Chase asked, catching their quizzical stare.

"Um...nothing Chase." Skye said breaking her gaze for a second. "But... are you ok? You seem... tired."

"What? Nah, I'm fine! Great actually!" Chase responded, trying to sound enthusiastic. "Yup, never felt better. Come on let's go play!" Chase took off out the door, and the pups stared after him; briefly glancing at one another.

"Don't worry Ryder," Katie was saying, as they headed back toward the Lookout. "Chase'll come around, you'll see."

"Come around what?" Chase's voice startled them, as he suddenly seemed to appear in front of them. The German Shepard stood there with his head cocked to the left and an eyebrow raised; staring quizzically up at them.

"Chase!" Katie said in surprise. "Um, nothing. I was just coming to see how Ryder was doing. We heard about the accident the other day."

"Oh," Chase's eyes fell away from her and he suddenly took on an awkward stance. "I see." Chase stood there like that for a second. "Well bye!" He called, running away, upon hearing the door open. Ryder and Katie exchanged a curious look as the pups joined them. Just then Ryder's Pup-pad rang.

"Hello, Ryder here!" He greeted when he answered.

"Ryder, I need help!" Mr. Porter cried. "Some fruit and vegetable crates got broken and now their are all over the road!"

"Don't worry Mr. Porter! We'll help clean it up!" Ryder responded. "No job is too big, no pup is too small!!" Pulling out the colored button he pressed it and called: "PAW Patrol, to the Lookout!"

"Ryder needs us!!" The pups responded together, racing for the elevator. Chase gulped, before running after them. Chase was so nervous, that he didn't notice how fast he was actually running. He managed to catch up to the other pups in no time at all. Marshall flew around the corner, but suddenly tried to stop, upon noticing one of the old parachutes sitting out. The clumsy Dalmatian couldn't stop in time and was sent sliding forward into the other pups. The parachute slowly flew down and covered the muddled pile of pups. Marshall pulled it up and away from his face, giving an apologetic grin.

"Sorry guys, I guess I got a little caught up, slip slidin' away!" The pups all laughed, Marshall and Chase not laughing quite as hard as the others; as the elevators went up. The elevator stopped, and the pups in uniform lined up as usual.

"PAW Patrol ready for action Ryder sir!" Chase declared, a very slight, almost nonexistent twinge of uncertainty in his tone.

"Good thing. Thanks for coming pups!" Ryder said. "Mr. Porter needs our help. A couple of his fruit and veggie crates broke when he was unloading them. And now all that food is all over the roads. We need to help him get all those fruits and veggies off the road, before someone gets hurt running over them. For this mission I'll need..." he swiped to the right icon. "Chase, I need you to block traffic to make it safer for the pups to clean up."

"Chase is on the case!" The German Shepard replied confidently.

"I'll also need..." Ryder swiped again. "Rubble, I need you use your shovel to scoop up the food and put it back into the crates."

"Rubble on the Double!!" The bulldog pup barked.

"And I'll need, Rocky!" Ryder finished, swiping to that green recycling icon. "I need you to use your tools to fix the broken crates."

"Green means go, Ryder!!" Rocky howled happily.

"Chase you can take over from here. Alright PAW Patrol is on a roll!!" Ryder concluded, signaling the pups to go. Chase secretly gulped as he ran for the slide, Rocky and Rubble already ahead of him. As he hopped onto the slide, he could have sworn it had extended before his eyes, and he suddenly felt a rush of emotion. But what was it, doubt? Fear? Or a combination of he two. He didn't know, but he knew he couldn't go back anyway, because he was, now, already halfway down the slide. Landing in his truck, he drove off and stopped next to Rocky's truck.the tree pups stared at the garage doors.

"Hehe, Oh right, we don't have to wait for Ryder." He realized awkwardly. Then drove off followed by Rubble and Rocky.

 **How's it going folks! Hope you guys liked this chapter, the rescue part has been hard because of what I'm trying to do with this story. Anyway more is yet to come, so stay tuned and ready for what comes next! Thx!!!**


	6. Splat!

Chapter six: Splat!

"Pups! Thank goodness your here!" Mr. Porter sighed with relief, at the sight of Chase, Rocky, and Rubble.

"Ok, uh, Rocky, you start working on the crates. And Rubble track down that fruit!" Chase ordered, as confidently as he possibly could make himself sound.

"You got it!!" The two pups obeyed immediately.

"And I'll secure the area." Chase decided to himself, running to his truck. Nudging his cones with his nose, he tossed them out blocking one side of the disaster area.

"Phew?! There's so much food everywhere!" Rubble gasped, stepping over bananas and carrots.

"Don't worry, I'll help you, Rubble!!" Chase smiled around at him, as he hopped down off his truck to join him in the colorfully messy stretch of road. Chase was about to pick up an apple; when in the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a vehicle heading their way. Then it hit him, _he forgot to close the other side of the road!!_ Terror suddenly grabbed him, as he saw the car headed right at Rubble, who didn't seem to notice at all.

"Rubble, WATCH OUT!!" Chase screamed, racing toward him. Rubble looked up just in time to see Chase's terrified face, as he knocked him out of the way. Chase looked to see the vehicle heading right toward _him_ now, the headlights flashing in his wide eyes. He braced for impact as the vehicle swerved to avoid him. Squished fruit splashed all over him, as the car spun once and hit a sign at the side of the road. Chase looked up when he heard the crash, the steam that rose from the vehicle told him all he needed to know. Chase's breaths were a bit abrupt, as he realized what had happened.

"Chase, are you alright!!" Rocky's voice jerked him out of his paralyzing numbness.

"I... I think so." Chase answered hollowly.

"Are you hurt?" Rubble questioned, seeing his blank, still-terrified, gaze.

"No, I don't think so." Chase shook his head, still not meeting their gaze.

"Oh, well that's at least good." Mr. Porter sighed, brushing a hand across his brow.

"Come on, let's get you cleaned up." Rocky suggested.

"Ok." Chase said, following them keeping his gaze on the ground, refusing to look up. "Wait!" He said perking up, stopping everyone in their tracks. Chase ran back to his truck, and set his cones in place blocking the other side of the road. "I'm not letting that happen again!" He decided firmly looking at the others. Then, hopping down; followed Rocky, again, dropping his gaze.

"Rubble, call Ryder and tell him we need help. I'll find Katie to help with Chase." Rocky instructed.

"You got it!" The yellow construction pup answered.

Ryder was resting his foot again and watching Marshall, Skye, and Zuma play Tag in the yard. His pup-pad rang; and when he answered it, Rubble's worried face showed up on the screen.

"Hi Rubble! How's the rescue going." Ryder greeted, as the pups came and joined him.

"Terrible Ryder!!" Rubble cried sadly. "Chase nearly got run over by a car!!" Ryder gasped.

"What?!" Skye cried.

"No way!!" Zuma squeaked.

"Is he ok?!" Marshall asked.

"I'm not sure, but he said he was fine." Rubble replied, unconvinced. "Rocky left Chase with Mr. Porter, while he went to get Katie to give him a bath. Some of the fruit got squished and is all over him and the road."

"Understood Rubble," Ryder said nodding. "I'll send send Marshall and Zuma to help."

"Can I go too Ryder? Can I, can I, can I!!" Skye asked, anxiously.

"Of course. Hang in there Rubble, help is on the way." Ryder told him.

"Thanks Ryder!" The bulldog pup replied gratefully, disconnecting from the call.

It wasn't long before Marshall, Zuma, and Skye showed up at the sight.

"Woah!!" The three pups gasped. Squished fruit was everywhere, just like Rubble had said. The construction pup was salvaging whatever fruits and veggies were still left un-squished, when hurried up to him.

"Where's Chase?" Skye asked, as they approached him.

"Over there," Rubble returned, tilting his head back to the right behind him. The pups followed his gesture with their eyes, then took off toward the distinct pink tub that they knew was Katie's. Then they reached it, they found Katie tending to a miserable Chase. As Katie scrubbed away the squish food, Chase sat there in the bubbly water. He listlessly stared at the ground, his head cocked slightly to the right and his right ear sagged with it. Chase closed his right eye as Katie scrubbed over his forehead on that side.

"Don't worry Chase, this'll make you feel better, when you're nice and clean." Katie encouraged him, noticing the other pups standing there. "Oh, hi pups, coming to help with the cleanup?" She greeted them with a smile and thankful tone.

"Yeah," Skye nodded, kinda flatly. "How's Chase?"

"He'll be alright. That car just scared him is all. It totally missed him." Katie told them, her blue eyes scanning the numb-looking German Shepard. The three pups expressions became that of concern, as they turned around to head off with Rocky to work on cleaning up the street. Marshall used his water cannons to wash away the squashed fruits and veggies. Zuma, and Skye helped Rubble pick up the food that was still good. While Rocky finished fixing the broken crates. When Chase was clean again. He joined the team again, he used his winch to drag the crashed vehicle away from the broken sign. Rocky set to work repairing the car's damaged engine and then on the sign. When the mess was finally cleaned up, Chase slowly re-opened the street and they all headed back to the Lookout together.

Ryder exited the Lookout, as the pups drove up. Chase's downcast glance demonstrated the immense shame he felt. He peeked up at Ryder for a second, then away again. Ryder just returned a tenderly concerned look.

"Oh Chase, I'm so glad you're alright!" Ryder said, hugging his German Shepard pup; Chase's hollow stare unchanged by this gesture.

The pups heard the muffled sound of voices, but couldn't hear what they were saying. Ryder had asked to talk to Chase in the Lookout alone. It was agonizing to wait for the rest of the PAW Patrol.

"How do you think it's going?" Zuma asked openly. The rest of the pups stayed silent, half fearing that anything they said would jinx it.

"Chase? What happened today?" Ryder's voice remained calm and understanding. The boy had always been good about keeping his cool in any situation. Chase just sat there looking away, refusing to make eye contact. "Chase, I know you. You don't make mistakes like this. You're better than that."

"I'm sorry." Chase piped up, still not looking Ryder in the eye. "I guess I've just had a lot on my mind lately."

"And that's the only reason you were distracted." Ryder questioned gently, not trying to press too much.

"Yes." Chase answered quietly.

"Ok." Ryder gave in. "But you know you can always come and talk to me if you need to right?"

"*sigh* Yes." Chase said, turning and walking away sadly. Ryder shot an even more troubled look after him as he disappeared out the door again.

Chase didn't even stop when he came outside, he just stared at the ground and walked right past the other pups. Reaching his house he walked steadily into it. When he shut the door, he couldn't stop himself from covering his face and begin to cry. Pain, shame, and regret welling up in him, as he sobbed a little harder in recalling all that had happened.

"Ryder?! What happened? What did you say to Chase?! Is he in trouble?" Skye asked, when the pups entered the Lookout.

"No, Skye, he's not." Ryder said, putting the pups' worries to rest... well somewhat. "He's still just seems to be a little shook up from earlier." Ryder gazed toward the door again.

"But you're still worried there's more to it then that, right?" Skye said, reading his mind. Marshall backed up a few paces, watching to make sure no one saw him; then retreated out the door himself. Bounding passed Chase's house, he froze when he heard something, and when he pressed an ear to the door he could hear the distinct sniffles of crying. This struck Marshall like lightning, _Chase crying?! This never happens!!_ He thought, his heart instantly breaking at how sad he sounded. Marshall finally couldn't take it any longer, he raced away to his pup house and sat down in it with his back end pressed into one of the back corners. Tears jumping to his eyes as he sat there hunched over, and breathing a little hard from the running. The Dalmatian tried to calm himself, but simply couldn't, and the tears flooded down his cheeks. And he feared he'd never stop, because the last few days he'd felt like a bottle of soda that was continually being shaken. But now the cap was off, and the pressure that had been killing him for the last few days was finally released. Though he didn't feel any better than before, his heart still ached and his paws still trembled; as he continued to sob... as quietly as he could manage.

 **Hey guys how's it hangin'? Here's the next chapter, hope you enjoy. I was going to include Marshall a lot sooner, but then things happens and ideas came. And I couldn't do it quite yet, but here it is!! Again, hope you enjoy! Thx!!!!**


	7. Tough Times Get Tougher

Chapter seven: Tough Times Get Tougher

 _Chase's tears blurred his vision as he clung to the ladder. He didn't even look up... or down... he already knew what was there. Marshall's voice questioned him. Ryder groaned as he lay on the ground; and somehow out of nowhere, the roar of an engine cut through the silence. The ladder faded from his grasp and Chase fell to the ground; as the light of headlights pushed through the cloud of dust arising from the rubble. He brace himself for the crash, hearing the tires squeaking; desperately trying to stop. But before it hit him..._

Chase was awake in flash, his breath caught in his throat, as he burst into tears once again. The German Shepard bawled so hard he almost couldn't breathe, his heart seeming to hurt more and more as the days went by. But still he refused to go to Ryder and the pups about it. _They can't see my weakness! They can't!!_ He kept telling himself. Biting his lip, he forced himself to lay down again and close his eyes; while fighting off the nightmares that seemed to constantly plague him. Snuggling down, he tried to ignore his thoughts and go to sleep. Only to break down once again, as the nightmares came back as memory flashes.

Chase awoke that morning wishing it wasn't morning. He pulled his blanket over his head, and tried to block out the sound of the world outside coming to life once again. Removing the blanket enough to peek over at the clock built into the wall, he saw the time and was up and at 'em at once.

Once he'd woken the other pups, feeling as non-energetic as they were, they all went to see if Ryder was awake; to which he was. Again, like every morning, Ryder fed them breakfast and the pups scattered off to play. Chase simply sat there and watched the pups spread throughout the big yard, which stretched all around the Lookout. Alex had already come to see Ryder again, and Capt'n Turbot and Francois came later that afternoon. The news of Ryder's accident had spread through the whole town very quickly. Ms. Marjorie called to check on him, and the PAW Patrol began receiving cards and notes from the people of Adventure Bay; encouraging Ryder to get well soon. Some even sent food and treats for the pups and Ryder. It warmed their hearts to know how much their community cared for them. And that they hoped for the best for them. Mayor Goodway, of course, checked in every so often; asking for an update on Ryder's recovery. To which they couldn't really say much, as it seemed like nothing was changing; even when, in fact, it was.

Chase dragged himself out of bed again, as well as wishing he was not awake right now, but was still forcing himself to 'keep up appearances' until it was necessary to stop. As he headed toward the Lookout doors, he passed by Marshall's pup house and heard sniffles coming from it. Chase froze then turned around to go back. Looking in, he saw the Dalmatian huddled in the back of his house, his back to him.

"Marshall?" Chase quietly addressed his friend. When Marshall turned to look at him, what he saw made him jump in surprise. Tears dripped from Marshall's big blue eyes and they were a bit puffy, telling him that he'd been crying for a while.

"Marshall what's wrong?" Chase wondered tenderly.

"I... I don't want to talk about it." Marshall responded, looking away again.

"Come on, Marshall." Chase said, sitting down in front of the doorway. "You can talk to me... Always."

"I.. I..don't... want to." Marshall hiccuped sadly, refusing to look at him.

"Why won't you talk to me?" Chase asked, anxiously shifting closer.

"Why won't you?" Marshall returned, half turning toward him. Chase was taken aback by this response.

"Um-... I..." the German Shepard trailed off. Marshall fully turned his head to face him. A few stray tears slipping down his white furry cheeks.

"Ever since Ryder got hurt, you've been acting really strange lately." Marshall's eyes bore into Chase's making him squirm uncomfortably. _He should've known he couldn't fool his best friend for long._

"Well...I've just had a lot to think about lately." Chase insisted, attempting to shrug it off casually. "A lot has happened since then."

"That's for sure." Marshall agreed, his eyes hitting the floor.

"But why are you upset? Did something happen last night?" Chase began to pry; knowing something was wrong with his friend, and didn't want him to feel bad. Marshall gave a small nod, holding his gaze on his paws; letting his head hang a little and dropping his ears low. Chase held a paw out and nudged Marshall's foreleg encouraging him to come closer. The Dalmatian couldn't help but race into Chase's openly offered embrace, tears jumping to their eyes. The German Shepard sniffled away the tears, and hugged Marshall tighter. When they broke apart, Marshall rubbed his red, bloodshot eyes. Chase quickly brushed away his own tears, hoping Marshall wouldn't see.

"Now come on, let's go talk to Ryder together." Chase told his friend leading the way. Marshall slowly followed as the two pups headed up the Lookout to see Ryder.

Ryder had just gotten himself dressed, and was about to leave his room to see if the pups were awake; when he heard the padding of paws and voices coming closer to him. Chase and Marshall slowly peeked their heads around the doorpost, only to be met by Ryder's curious face from where he sat on his bed.

"Oh, Ryder you're awake." Chase said, awkwardly avoiding eye contact for a second.

"Uh... hi Marshall, Chase. What's up?" Ryder greeted them with a confused smile and a wave. Chase glanced at Marshall, then back to Ryder. Marshall looked away from him, when meeting Chase's gaze.

"I found Marshall crying in his pup house earlier." The blue Police pup told Ryder.

"Oh Marshall." Ryder sighed, his face falling into a sad, purely concerned gaze. "Come here." He gestured to the distressed Dalmatian, who slowly walked over, with his eyes still on the floor, and hopped up next to Ryder.

"Thanks for bringing him up here, Chase. But I want you to.-" Ryder looked up to where Chase once stood and adopted a quizzical stare, as Chase was no longer there. "Chase?" he said, even more puzzled.

Every morning after that Chase would force himself to get up, as he normally did. Every time they'd have a mission, Chase would always end up messing it up somehow. The mistakes weren't quite as bad as the fruit incident, but each time he came back from a mission; he felt worse than when he left.

"Good morning pups!" Ryder greeted cheerfully one morning, as the five of his pups slowly strolled into the Lookout. Marshall still seemed a little down, even after Ryder reassured him about whatever he was worried about. "Where's Chase?" Ryder asked, when he realized the German Shepard wasn't present... again.

"We were about to ask _you_ the same thing." Skye answered dryly.

"I'll go look for him." Marshall offered, slowly scampering off. Marshall approached the blue police-style pup house, this act seeming to become a regular occurrence by now, and looked in. For once the door was open, and he could see that Chase was still asleep; but he did not look peaceful at all. He squirmed a little and he's eyes clenched tighter. He was mumbling something in his sleep, something that Marshall couldn't understand.

"Ahhh!" Chase cried, his head upright in a second, scaring Marshall. Chase's brown eyes were wide in the terrifying fear he felt. His breaths were abrupt and gasping, almost as though he'd been under water way too long and finally came up for air.

"Chase what's wrong!!" Marshal couldn't help but say it aloud. Chase's paralyzed expression changed upon hearing his voice, as he suddenly realized Marshall was standing there, the German Shepard suddenly felt extremely tired.

"Marshall?! What are you doing here?! What time is it?" He quickly looked at the clock and saw the time. "Ah man!!" He groaned, leaning down to cover his face with his paws. "They sent you to find me, didn't they." He guessed.

"Yeah, but what's really going on." Marshall asked, sitting next to him and patting his back gently. "You haven't been yourself at all lately. And I wanna help you. Just like you did with me a few days ago." Chase sat up and looked away from Marshall.

"I don't want to talk about it." He said in a shaky tone, studying the ground his eyes fell upon; even though there wasn't really anything to look at.

"I didn't either..." Marshall reasoned, placing a paw on his shoulder. "But you kept trying."

"This is different." Chase insisted, shifting away from him.

"I don't see how it is." Marshall returned, sliding over to him again. "You're upset, and I want to know why." Chase remained silent, searching for something to say.

"Ok, I'll join you with the others in a second." Chase sighed giving in.

"Ok, thanks. We'll be waiting for you." Marshall smiled, heading off toward the Lookout again. Chase gave a slight smile as his friend disappeared, and lost it as soon as he was gone.

"Marshall?! Did you find Chase?!" Skye asked, anxiously awaiting what the Dalmatian was about to say.

"Yeah I found him." Marshall smiled. "And he's agreed to come and talk to us."

"Wreally?! That gwreat!!!" Zuma shouted happily. Suddenly, though, they heard the rev of an engine, and sirens blared; as they saw a certain blue police truck drive off down the Lookout driveway. Marshall ran to stand in the doorway, as a bunch of confused gasps and questions rippled from the other pups. But Marshall just stared after Chase as he drove away, confusion and worry and hurt crossing his face as he watched his friends disappear down the road.

 **Wow! What a chapter!!! I wasn't sure what to do with it, but then these ideas came to me and I just _had_ to do it!! Hope you guys enjoy and get ready for he next chapter! Thx!!!**


	8. Searching For Answers

Chapter eight: Searching For Answers

"I don't understand?!" Rocky cried.

"What happened?!" Rubble gasped.

"Where's Chase going?" Skye whined sadly.

"Mawrshall, I thought you said he was coming to talk to us?" Zuma questioned, hurt by what had just taken place.

"He was..." Marshall responded slowly turning around, his face downcast in disappointment. "He told me he was right behind me. And now he-" Marshall plopped down to a sitting position and laid down to cover his face and begin to cry.

"Oh Marshall!!" Skye cried, sniffling, as she and the other pups laid down with him. All of them beginning to cry as well, mostly because of how upset Marshall was; but also because of Chase leaving. Ryder frowned, as well, at the sight of his pups crying. Skye sniffled again and looked up at him with her tearful, magenta-colored eyes.

"What are we going to do, Ryder?" She wondered sorrowfully, "is Chase.. running away?" That last question sent chills up Ryder's spine, he never thought any of his pups would run away; especially not Chase.

"I don't think so, Skye. But if he is, we won't let him... We have to catch up to him and bring him back home." Ryder's voice was a little shaky, but became more confident as he spoke.

Ryder then organized his pups to fan out and search for Chase everywhere. He'd tried calling Chase, but the German Shepard refused to answer him. Ryder was tracking him through his pup-tag, but then the signal vanished from the screen. The pups and Ryder searched all day, but found no sign of him. They continued to search the next day, but had no success then either.

"Ryder, Ryder look!!" Rubbles cried one morning. The pups had dragged Ryder out of the Lookout and to show him something. And when Ryder saw what it was he couldn't believe his eyes. There parked in one of the Lookout bays... was Chase's blue pup house.

"We think he's in there too!" Skye said excitedly, though she sounded more shocked than excited.

"But, he's been missing for three days?!" Ryder gasped in disbelief. "Why would he suddenly just show up again?" The door opened getting their attention immediately, and out stepped Chase. The pup weaved around and stumbled about. His eyes sunken in and puffy from crying. He body a little slimmer than they'd remembered, and his head bobbing around. Chase stumbled and fell, and lay there still. Suddenly jumping up again and he staggered around some more. Chase mostly kept his eyes closed, almost as though he were sleepwalking. And He was also mumbling something none of them couldn't decipher.

"Chase?" Skye addressed him softly, but Chase didn't seem to hear her.

"This is gone on too long." Ryder decided pulling out his pup-pad.

"Hi Ryder what's up?" Katie's cheerful voice answered, when she picked up her phone.

"Hi Katie. We have a situation over here, think you can come by and help?" Ryder asked, half hopeful.

"Sure! I'll be right there." Katie smiled willingly.

When Katie arrived though, she couldn't believe her eyes. Chase was still acting very disoriented and zombie-like. His demeanor was very dulled and his personality obscured to practically nothing.

"What happened to Chase?" Katie's asked, feeling an intense sadness for how miserable the German Shepard looked.

"We don't know." Ryder sighed, "this is the first time we've seen him in three days."

"What do you mean?" Katie was taken aback by this statement.

"He ran away three days ago." Skye told her.

"He did _what?!"_ Katie almost didn't believe it.

"And we couldn't find him until, he showed up hewre this mowrning!" Zuma whined. Chase stumbled passed Katie, continuing his nonsensical muttering, as Katie reaches down and picked him up. Feeling her arms around him, Chase sagged against them and fell silent. He tried to fully close his eyes, but would jerked himself awake again and again.

"He's exhausted!" Katie breathed, unable to take her eyes off him. "And he seems a bit thinner than usual. What happened to him?"

"Believe me, we wish we knew." Ryder sighed, he, himself, almost feeling like crying at the poor sight of his beloved German Shepard pup.

"Let's get him inside and get him cleaned up. There's dirt and burrs in his fur. I'm surprised he made it back here like this." Katie, Ryder, and the pups anxiously filed into the Lookout. Katie and Marshall gave Chase a sponge bath with warm water and removed all the burrs. Katie noticed a scratch on the pad of Chase's right forepaw and put a bandage on it. After that they laid him down on one of the pup beds and draped his blanket over him. But as Chase lay there he continued to wake himself, fighting the dose of rest that he desperately needed.

"He needs to eat. It looks like he _hasn't_ in the last three days, while he's been gone." Katie observed. She took the scruff on the back of Chase's neck and gently pinched. "And he's dehydrated."

"I got this!!" Marshall called, racing off toward his EMT truck. Chase shifted uncomfortably; his eyes closed, but his face showing the lack of sleep. Katie helped Marshall start an IV and fluids to re-hydrate their sick-looking police pup. Marshall pressed his stethoscope to Chase's side, and silently sighed to himself.

"He doesn't sound good." Marshall reported sadly. "He needs to eat. He might sleep better after that."

"I'll go make something that might help." Katie said, disappearing for a few minutes. Chase continued to look disturbed, and groaned quietly; drawing everyone's attention.

"Why is this happening, Ryder?!" Skye bawled, burying her face into Ryder's side.

"I don't know Skye. But once he's feeling better, we'll be sure to find out." Ryder comforted her, holding the Cockapoo close. At that moment Katie returned, with a bowl a little steam rising from it. Chase's eyes heavily opened and closed, as Katie set the bowl down next to her. Then she picked up Chase and cradled him like a baby. Spooning up some of the thick mash that she'd prepared, she held it up to Chase's nose. The German Shepard sniffed it a couple times, his ears twitched back slightly as he steadily began to lick it off the spoon. After he'd finally finished it, Katie set Chase down and covered him back up again. His breaths were a little more relaxed than before, and he seemed a little more at ease now.

"So, what do you think, Katie?" Ryder asked, implying something Katie understood instantly.

"He'll be alright. He just needs a lot of rest and to start eating again. And give an explanation as to how all this happened." Katie's eyes scanned Ryder's, seeing just how lost and helpless he felt. "Don't worry Ryder, we'll get to the bottom of this." She told him laying a hand on his shoulder. Ryder felt a little better as he glanced down at the, now, sleeping Chase; his hand on the German Shepard's back.

Chase had been asleep for a few hours now, when an distressed whine called attention to him once again. Marshall and Zuma jumped up from their places and the there's just looked up quickly. Chase squirmed uncomfortably, in a very panicked fashion.

"No, no, please, Marshall, stop!" Chase muttered. "I didn't know! Stop pups! Please... wait!! STOP!!" Chase sat up, screaming that last word at the top of his lungs, as tears flooded to his eyes and down his cheeks again. Everyone stood there awestruck by what they were witnessing, as Chase crouched down into a ball and sobbed into his paws. Ryder wasted no more time taking Chase into his arms, and held him tightly. Chase bawled into Ryder's shirt before pulling away, and attempted to clear his vision; realizing something was different. Chase suddenly realized who was holding him, and looked around to find all the pups staring at him; with terrified looks.

"*sniffle* How... h..how did I get-*hiccup* here." He said in a trembling voice.

"It doesn't matter now, Chase." Ryder told him in a calm tender voice. "You're home, and you're safe." He hugged the pup close again.

"Why did you run away, Chase?" Skye asked stepping closer. "You were gonna come talk to us." Chase sniffled again and brushed away more tears with his paw.

"I... wasn't... c..coming to t..talk to you." Chase stammered regretfully.

"What?!" Marshall cried. "But then why'd you tell me you were."

"I-.. s..said that, s..so you'd leave m..me alone." Chase's ears laid flat in shame. "I... ran a..away, because I.. d..didn't w..want to talk!"

"But why don't you wanna talk about it?" Rocky sat closer.

"B...b...because I was too scared to!!" Chase cried, beginning to sob into Ryder's chest again.

"But what were you too scared to talk about?" Rubble wondered curiously, chase continuing to cry.

"You've been having nightmares,.. haven't you?" Marshall implied, taking another step closer. Chase turned back toward them.

"*sniffle* How could you tell?" Chase wondered.

"You wewre talking in youwr sleep just a minute ago, dude." Zuma pointed out. Chase's tears welled up again, as he laid his tired head against Ryder's chest; still visible to the other pups, as another tear snuck down his cheek.

"Chase, What was you're nightmare about?" Katie asked gently, taking a seat so her eyes were level with his.

"I.. d..don't want-*sniffles* to talk- about it." Chase answered defensively.

"You have to Chase!" Marshall cried desperately. "It may be the only way for you to truly feel better!" Chase looked at Marshall, the tears in the Dalmatian's eyes, and the desperation with it, begged him to change his mind.

"*sigh* Fine." Chase huffed in defeat. The pups sighed, they would finally get an answer to this long-standing mystery. But as they listened to Chase explain his nightmare, and the changes that occurred after the fruit accident, the pups' hearts broke as did Ryder and Katie's.

"I've had this dream ever since That Day." Chase explained, finally finishing his story. "It was horrible!!!" He clung to Ryder again and began to cry some more, his sobs breaking their hearts even more.

"Oh Chase!!" Skye cried, tears wetting her cheeks, as she jumped up next to Chase and hugged him. "We don't blame you!!"

"No way!!" Rocky chimed in, joined them in their hug, with tears of his own. "You weren't even there! And it was an accident!"

"And even if it wewre youwr fault, we'd still love you!" Zuma sobbed, unable to contain his emotions. Rubble just burst out crying and ran to join them. Every pup had now gathered around Ryder and Chase, and they were all hugging and crying together; not a dry eye could be found in the room.

"But Chase." Marshall piped up finally, breaking the long embrace. "Why didn't you just tell us you were having nightmares? I mean, you know we're always here to help you... right?"

"Of course I do." Chase sighed, sniffling some more. "I just didn't want you to see my weakness."

"Weakness?" Rocky echoed.

"Crying! It's a sign of weakness, a leader never cries. They have to be strong and brave and fearless!!" Chase seemed to adopt certain personas to support his words, then dropped his gaze; while adding: "They can never show sadness or fear."

"That's not true Chase." Ryder told him, making Chase look up at him. The German Shepard could plainly see the pain and sadness in the boy's eyes. "A leader is never aloud to bottle up and ignore their own feelings. That's why they have a team; to lift them and help them get through it."

"But you never get sad or scared." Chase protested, dropping his gaze. Ryder pulled the blue police pup's chin back up, for their eyes to meet again.

"I have lately." He said simply. "When you ran away I was soooo worried!... I even thought for a second that-... you weren't gonna come back. I was afraid you'd run away for good. Even if I didn't know why." Ryder's words terrified Chase upon hearing them.

"I'm sorry, I made you think that!! I'm sorry!!" Chase cried hugging him desperately. "I..I..I didn't mean to I..I..I was.."

"Shh." Ryder quieted him by putting a finger to his muzzle, then hugged him close again. "I know." He said, as Chase clung to him tightly. "But from now on if something like this ever happens again, you come and tell us. Not boxed it away and let it make you miserable. That's why things kept getting worse."

"I will, I promise, I will!!" Chase agreed, violently nodding his head, tears streaming down his face.

"That's a good pup!" He smiled, scratching Chase behind the ears. "And now that we know the problem..."

"We can, finally, help fix it." Skye finished, as the pups dried their tears. And Chase genuinely smiled for the first time in what seemed like forever...

 **Can't believe it, but I'm actually able to post two chapters today!! Crazy as this sounds, but this chapter I just wrote today! I finished the end of the last chapter this morning and began writing this one and somehow managed to write it all so I could post it today. I'm actually gonna try and end this story with chapter ten, but we'll see how it goes! And thanks soooo much for the support and the amazing comments you guys have been posting!! They are greatly appreciated! And as always if you have ideas for stories or need ideas yourself, please, fell free to PM me if needed! Always happy to lend a paw,... so to speak. ;) Anyway enjoy! Thx!! ;D**


	9. Looking For The Light

Chapter nine: Looking For The Light

The sky darkened far in the distance beyond the farm. Farmer Al strode toward the pasture and gazed off at his animals happily grazing there. A distant rumble broke his gaze from the animals and onto the angry-looking skies.

"Shucks and husks! That's not lookin' good." He said to himself, then headed off to gather his animals.

Katie had gone home, satisfied with the fact that Chase was finally starting to feel better. Meanwhile Ryder and the pups were watching Chase sleep. As a way to keep the nightmares away, they had given Chase ear phones with some soothing music to put him to sleep, and gave him Officer Bear for extra comfort. He needed a lot of sleep, and they intended to make sure that his nightmares didn't stop him from getting that. Ryder sat next to him with his arm draped across the German Shepard's back, his fingers steadily rubbing the back of his neck.

"So-.. Ryder." Marshall began slowly, after clearing his throat to speak. "Do you think Chase'll be ok now?"

"I think so Marshall." Ryder smiled, finally feeling a little more optimistic. "Especially since, now, we know why he's been acting so strange for the past few weeks, which means he'll need all our helps to truly get past this."

"Yeah!" The pups said aloud. Chase squirmed and shifted his head away from them, but stayed asleep.

"Sorry, I mean yeah!" Marshall whispered smiling. The pups share a low chuckle and laid down to watch Chase sleep.

"It's ok pups. You can go play if you want to." Ryder said, tenderly smiling around at them. "I got this." The pups slowly got up and filed out the door; Marshall followed then stopped and turned around.

"Can I stay?" The Dalmatian asked, coming back over to Ryder. "I would rather be here... In case, Chase needs me."

"Of course you can Marshall! You're such a good pup." Ryder scratched Marshall behind the ears and the red fire pup snuggled down next to Chase. The sleeping German Shepard shifted over to lean against him, and released a calm, restful breath. This gesture warmed Marshall's heart. _Good,_ he thought happily, _Chase is **finally** healing_. Then Marshall, in turn, snuggled closer to his friend, as Chase snoozed on.

Farmer Al had just finished herding the animals into the barn; when a rippling groan from the sky grabbed his attention as lightning streaked across the sky. When Al looked up from shielding his face, he looked up and gasped. As the rafters seemed to cave in on them, in the midst of the smoggy air; and couldn't help but cough because of it...

 _Chase watched a version of himself lay their crying, amongst the chaos of his horrible nightmares; they now felt very distant. The fear and guilt he had once felt, was now a dulled pressure in his chest; though he hadn't a clue as to what had changed. He wondered why his dream was so different, but the comforting feeling he felt made him realize that it didn't matter. But as he continued to watch himself, hearing his terrified sobs of pain and fear. And the noises that had tormented him all this time. He suddenly noticed a ring of red and orange making its way around his distressed double; as the whole dream was burned away like a fire..._

Chase shot up once again, awake in a second. The sudden movement startled Ryder and Marshall, Chase seemed dazed; and more confused than afraid.

"Something's wrong." Chase breathed, glancing at Ryder.

"What you do mean? Are you ok?" Ryder asked, worried he'd had an even worse nightmare.

"No, not with me!!" Chase corrected himself. "I mean something _else_ is wrong." Marshall and Ryder looked at each other in confusion.

"What do you mean?" Marshall asked, raising an eyebrow at him quizzically. "How do you know?"

"My dream." Chase went on. "It was different today. Something's not right! I can feel it." Chase emphasized that last part, stressing it to further demonstrate his concern. Just then Ryder's pup-pad random and Ryder immediately took it up and answered it. Farmer Al coughed and spluttered in the thick blackness that surrounded him.

"Uh hi farmer Al, what's wrong?" Ryder greeted, upon noticing instantly that something wasn't right.

"*cough* Ryder! A storm is coming and lightning has set my barn on fire! The rafters are coming down and have blocked us in; and now we're stuck inside!" The farmer answered quickly, between gasps and coughs.

"Oh no!! Don't worry Farmer Al! The PAW Patrol will be there!!" He slid out the button. "No job is too big, no pup is too small!!" He said, then pressed the button and called: "PAW Patrol! To the Lookout!!"

"Ryder needs us!!" The pups responded as usual, racing for the elevator. Marshall stood up from where he lay, as Chase did the same, and jumped off the pillow. Before he could stop it, he landed on top of Chase and the two pups rolled into the others inside the elevator.

"Well I guess like things will be rolling back to normal in no time!" Marshall joked, with an amused grin, to which the pups couldn't help but laugh at the joke.

"PAW Patrol, ready for action Ryder sir!" Chase declared in a stately manner. To the pups, this the first time Chase had, _actually_ , sounded like his normal confident self in some time.

"Thanks for hurrying pups." Ryder said bringing the screen down with his pup-pad. "Be have a huge emergency! A storm is coming and Farmer Al's barn is on fire from the lightning!" The pups gasped. "I know."

Ryder said, reading their minds. "So Marshall, I need you to-"

"I got this Ryder." Chase interrupted him, strolling over to sit next to him.

"Chase are you sure?" Ryder wondered, a little worried. "You're still so tired? You should probably stay here and rest, while the other pups handle this."

"No way!" Chase protested. "The PAW Patrol needs a leader. I have to go. Please Ryder." Chase begged. Ryder was taken aback by this, as were the other pups. "Ok." Ryder sighed, giving in with a shrug. Chase smiled, then strode towards the other pups.

"Ok Marshall!" Chase began, stopping in front of the Dalmatian. "I need you to use your fire gear _and_ EMT gear to put out the fire and check to make sure that everyone's alright."

"I'm all fired up, Chase!" Marshall barked bravely.

"This mission is big, so I'll need all pups in deck!" Chase said, and the pups responded with boisterous howls. "Rubble, I need you to use you're construction rig to pull down the barn doors." Ryder would put up each pup's icon as Chase said it.

"Rubble on the double!" The bulldog cried excitedly.

"Rocky, I'll need you to use your tools, to unscrew the door's hinges to make an escape route for Farmer Al and his animals."

"Green means go!!" The mixed breed barked.

"And Skye! I'll need you to lift Rocky up with your harness so he can reach the top hinges of the barn doors. And then I'll need you to help Marshall fight the fire."

"Yay!! This pups gotta Fly!! Skye called, finishing with a backflip.

"Alright!!" Called Ryder, who then glanced down at Chase.

"PAW Patrol, is on a roll!!" Chase finished racing for the slide. The pups barked and howled, as they followed the German Shepard's lead. Soon Ryder was watching the pups drive off on their mission. And the pride he felt was immeasurable, he still couldn't believe what he'd seen. The Chase he saw there just a few moments ago, was not the same Chase he saw a few _hours_ ago. And he was thankful for the change, was now fully confident that his pups were gonna be alright.

Smoke and flames bellowed from the red barn as the pups approached. The wood of the barn crackled with the flames. The pups' vehicles screeched to a halt in front of it, their mouths agape and their eyes wide.

"Woah, that's sooo now cool!" Zuma gasped concern and worry on his face.

"Then let's hurry!" Skya called from her copter.

"Right!" Chase agreed. "Marshall! You go start fighting the fire."

"I'm on it!" Marshall barked driving closer to the burning building. "Arf Arf! Water cannons!!" The water gurgled and squirted into the flames, the fire cried in pain as they slowly began to decrease.

"Rubble, build a temporary pen away from the fire with those hay bales." Chase ordered gesturing to a pile of bales behind him.

"You got it!" Rubble answered, heading off to do what he was told.

"Skye, Rocky! Get that door open!" Chase called.

"Ten-four Chase!" Skye called, bringing her copter around over to Rocky and dropping her harness.

"We got this!" Rocky agreed, as the harness hooked around him and they took off.

"Zuma! Help me get anything that couldn't catch fire away from the area!"

"Wright?" Zuma nodded.

"Oh my!!" Farmer Yumi exclaimed when she came out and saw the fire.

"Don't worry Farmer Yumi!!" Chase called, from across the yard, as the wind continued to pick up. "We'll save Farmer Al, the animals _and_ your barn!" Farmer Yumi stepped back sadly and watched helplessly as the pups continued to work.

"The yawrd is cleawr!!" Zuma reported.

"Great!!" Chase smiled back at the Chocolate Lab. "Rocky, how's that door coming?"

"Almost there Chase!" The grey pup called, turning from his task, then back again.

"Marshall, keep the flames away from Rocky!!" Chase called, seeing the orange and red fingers reach out to the green recycling pup.

"I got this Chase!" Marshall agreed seeing what he meant.

"Rubble, is the pen ready?!" Chase called over the the yellow construction pup.

"Yep, on my way to help Rocky and Skye!" Rubble replied, driving toward the lit up building.

"Ok Skye! As soon as Rocky gets the last screw get him out of the way!" Chase called, as Rubble barked out his crane.

"Got it!" Skye responded. The blue police pup hopped into his truck to get a better view of the operation.

"Almost!" Rocky emphasized slowly. His screwdriver whirred and screw came loose and fell out. "Yes!" Rocky shouted excitedly. But then he heard a sizzling noise and looked up. The rope on harness had gotten too close to the flames and it had caught on fire!! "Oh no!!" Rocky screamed. Chase saw this too and lunged his truck forward. Skye began to move Rocky away from the barn, but the rope began to break more, until it snapped! Chase stopped his truck a few feet away from Rubble's.

"Ruff Ruff! Net!" Chase barked. The cannon went up and the net shot out, and attached to Rubble and Chase's trucks; catching Rocky just in time.

"Phew! Thanks!" Rocky gasped, recovering himself.

"Nice catch, Chase!" Rubble called, beaming. Chase smiled and a creaking noise pulled their attention to the door.

"The door is coming down!!" Marshall shouted, from a distance.

"I got this this!!" Rubble responded, pressing some buttons on his dash. The crane moved and caught the door before it could fall. Just then, an explosion of flames worsened the fire.

"This getting out of hand!" Marshall called.

"What'll we do?!" Zuma whined. Chase backed towards them a few paces, then an idea hit him.

"Ryder?" He called into his pup-tag. "Does the Air Patroller have something big enough to hold a lot of water?"

"It sure does!" Ryder responded.

"Great! Than can you send it here? The fire's getting out of control!! And we still need to get Farmer Al and the animals out!"

"Ok! While you do that! I'll send the reinforcements!" Ryder told him.

"Thanks Ryder!" Chase called back before hanging up.

"So what's the plan, Chase?" Skye asked after landing her copter.

"We use your claw attachment to get buckets of water to slow the flames down until the Air Patroller gets here." Skye nodded and bounded back to her copter; and left to get the water. Another small explosion brought more flames. And Chase got this sinking feeling that,

 **Well this is it! The end is almost here, the last chapter is coming up! Hope you guys have enjoyed it! And thank you soooo much for the support you've given to this story! Thx!!**


	10. Healing Comes

Chapter ten: Healing Comes

The fire's long glowing tentacles reflected off Chase's terror-stricken brown eyes. Skye dumped another bucket of water, which didn't make much of a difference. Rubble set the door down off to the side and shoveled dirt onto it; so it wouldn't catch fire too.

"I'm going in!!" Marshall called, putting on his mask, and spraying water into the flames to enter the burning building. Chase stood nearby waiting for the Dalmatian to return, as the flames continued to crackled and pop. Chase heard a whirring noise in the distance and turned to see what it was. Far off, coming from Adventure Bay, was the Air Patroller, with a large object hanging from it.

"Yes!" Chase cheered to himself, then looked back into the flames hoping to see Marshall and their friends emerge.

Marshall peered through the smoke and flames, spraying every which way. Until he finally caught sight of the figures of his friends huddled together in a corner of the barn. Chasing the fiery fingers away with his water cannons, he reached Farmer Al and his animals.

"Everyone! Follow me! I'll lead you to safety!!" Marshall called, over the noise of the fire raging around them. Farmer Al and the animals cautiously followed, and were relieved when they finally emerged from the flames; and into the cool of the coming night. Chase stood there next to the door relieved that they made it out.

"Zuma, Rocky, Marshall, lead them to the enclosure," Chase instructed. "Rubble block them in." The Air Patroller was almost there. Marshall headed off after the other pups, then stopped and turned around toward Chase when he heard another cracking noise.

"*gasp* Chase look out!!" Marshall screamed jump toward him. Chase looked up just in time to see a brown object coming down, and then darkness...

Chase could hear his own heart beat steadily thumping in his chest, as he slowly began to wake. The patter of rain and the rumble of thunder outside somehow reached his ears. His vision blurred back to normal as he returned to consciousness; the big worried eyes of the other pups meeting him. Chase attempted to raise his head, but the thumping intensified and he dropped his head onto the pillow again.

"Easy Chase." Marshall warned gently. The German Shepard groaned then looked up again, but just with his eyes; to wait for the thumping to subside. He then realized that his eyes burned and his head was wrapped up. Marshall straightened the ice pack on his forehead and stepped back again.

"Ugh, What happened?" Chase groaned hoarsely. "*gasp* the fire! Ow!" Chase's head was slammed again with heavy thumping when he thrust his head up, upon the realization he'd just made. He set his head down again and Ryder re-place the ice pack over his head.

"It's ok, Chase." The boy said, patting the pup's back. "Everything's fine."

"You took a hot board to the head." Marshall told him.

"And then the Air Patroller showed up and dumped a lot of water onto the barn, and put out the fire." Skye added.

"The animals and Farmer Al are all fine. We've found a place for the animals to stay until we can fix the barn." Rocky said, "there was a lot of damage."

"We flew you back to the Lookout in the Air Patroller." Rubble put in. "Your truck too."

"Oh, ok." Chase said, his eyes dropping to the floor. "I guess I messed this rescue up too, huh."

"Awre you kidding?! You wewre awesome!!!" Zuma squeaked excitedly, wagging his tail violently.

"Yeah! The day was saved because of you Chase!" Marshall agreed. The pups barked and howled their agreement.

"The pups are right! You did great, Chase!!" Ryder told him fondly. Chase gave him a quizzical stare.

"I saw the whole thing." Ryder told him reading his mind.

"What? How did you-?" Chase perked up at this, but was reminded to take it easy by the thumping in his head returning.

"I watched it all through your pup-tag... and the periscope." Ryder explained. Chase looked down thoughtfully at his pup-tag. "Congratulations Chase! You were a great leader!!" Ryder told him, gently rubbing the German Shepard's head. "You're such a good pup!" Chase smiled bigger than he'd ever smiled since Ryder's accident, and everyone knew that Chase was back to his old self again. Lightning flashed outside startling to pups, but then they all burst out laughing at the fact that they were scared by it. Chase stayed and rested by Ryder, who was still resting himself; due to his leg still being in the cast. Marshall had already pointed out that Ryder would be able to get it cut off soon and begin trying to walk again. Though he said that that wouldn't be for, at least, another week. But Chase didn't mind, he knew now that there was nothing to worry about. And was now just glad they were all here together.

The next morning Ryder awoke to a field of sleeping pups. He was still where he sat down last night next to Chase, who was still sound asleep. The German Shepard looked peaceful for once, like he was actually getting a good night's sleep. Ryder knew it was partially because he hadn't slept well since his accident, but he also knew it was because he didn't feel scared or guilty anymore. His thoughts and the sight of Chase brought a smile to the boy's face, as he proceeded to scan the rest of the pups. Skye yipped in her sleep, as Rocky shifted his position. Rubble snored away and rolled onto his back. Zuma silently snoozed with his head laid gently on his paws. And Marshall's head was rested against Chase's side. Ryder held back a tender chuckle, especially at the sight of Marshall and Chase. He knew how close those two pups were, and had remembered the first day the met. They were almost inseparable, and continued to be so to this day.

Chase was exhausted when he woke up, but knew that it was just because of what had happened the day before; as well as the three days before that, when he ran away from home for that time.

After breakfast Marshall approached Chase and sat down down next to him nestling himself close to his friend.

"So Chase, why did you run away? And where do you go?" He asked slowly, half wondering if he should ask. Chase sighed, he knew he needed to tell them what happened, and he was no longer afraid to talk about it.

"I ran for exactly what I told you. I was too scared to talk about it." Chase explained nervously. "I stayed in a cave in the mountains, I hid there because I knew that if I was deep enough; you guys couldn't track me."

"So that's why your pup-tag signal disappeared!" Ryder realized.

"But then, why did you stop taking care of yourself?" Skye asked, "because you looked terrible when you got back."

"I guess I was so caught up in my own fears, and of you guys finding me wanting me to talk about it, that I couldn't think of anything else." Chase shrugged.

"But then, what made you come back?" Rocky asked, cocking his head curiously.

"I don't know." Chase shook his head and shrugged again. "I guess, I missed you guys too much to stay away. And I was so tired at the time, that I couldn't really think straight."

"Seemed like you couldn't really _see_ straight either." Marshall commented, recalling how Chase had been staggering around that morning.

"I guess after awhile I was so tired and weak that I practically became a zombie." Chase reasoned.

"Well we're glad you're back, Chase." Skye smiled, wagging her tail gently.

"Me too!" Chase agreed, grinning back. "I feel a _lot_ better now!" The thumping in his head had improved, and he could now, very slowly, lift his head; but he didn't dare stand up yet. He almost wondered if his paws would support him, as tired as he felt.

"And Chase." Marshall spoke up once more. "You weren't the only one having nightmares." Chase cocked his head and raised an eyebrow, but then he searching Marshall's face further; and realized what he meant.

"You too?!" Chase gasped. Marshall simply nodded sheepishly. "Oh Marshall, I'm so sorry!!" Chase cried throwing his paws around his friend, sniffling a couple of times.

"Don't cry, Chase!" Marshall said, patting his friend and returning his hug, also trying to hold back a few tears. "You've already cried enough for the past few weeks!" Then they finally split and Chase sat back on his own haunches.

"I know," he sniffled, beginning to rub his eyes again. "It's just the ashes that got in my eyes yesterday." Rocky and Skye rolled their eyes to look at each other, everyone knowing that that wasn't the real reason. But yet Chase still wore a smile on his face, despite the tears he was brushing away.

"I think we've all had enough crying for a while." Ryder smiled.

"Totally!" Zuma agreed coolly.

A few weeks later, the pups were excited to see Ryder's cast come off and a black boot replace it. Ryder was finally able to start trying to walk on it now! Chase had fully recovered days ago, and had returned to us normal self. He still felt a little nervous on missions without Ryder, but reminded himself that Ryder would soon be back leading them again. So he kept going, with that satisfying thought in mind. Soon Ryder _was_ walking again, but he, still, had to take it easy on it; as not to cause any further damage and re-injure it. Chase became more and more excited as the days went by. Ryder was getting better everyday, and soon Marshall was able to clear Ryder for duty. The day Marshall cleared him, Ryder gathered his pups together.

"I just want to say that I'm so proud of you pups, for taking such good care of me while I was hurt. I know handling our missions without me was hard, but I'm glad you found a way to do it. And Chase, I am especially proud of you for finally admitting you had a problem and how you stepped up and tried your best to handle things. You're all such good pups!!" He told them, bringing them into a big group hug. The pups barked and ran as they went to play, and Ryder laughed at his silly PAW Patrol pups.

~Ruff Times~

 **So that's it, the final chapter!! Soooo glad you enjoyed it!! And just to clarify, the mention of zombies was just to give and description of Chase's looks and behavior. I do not actuallly believe in monsters. Also I'd like to give you the heads up that more PP stories are being planned. I am currently trying to finish up a few things before I start them. And shout out to Amilia13 for the story concept, hope you liked it!! And again thank you guys sooooo much for the awesome support and taking the time to read through my work!! Thx!!!!!! 3 3 :D**


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